The film has received praise for its diverse casting, including Isaac, who is Guatemalan-American.[12][13][14]Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote that "giving starring roles to a black man, a white woman and a Latino is ... quietly history making".[15] Targeted at Spanish-speaking viewers, an action-oriented Univision TV spot heavily featuring Poe included an introduction by Isaac in Spanish.[16] After an initial release of promotional character posters in November 2015,[17] a poster featuring Isaac's Poe was released the following month.[18]

In The Force Awakens, Poe is a skilled X-wing fighter pilot for the Resistance.[10][19] The son of Rebel Alliance fighters, he is a commander in the Resistance’s Starfighter Corps and "one of Leia Organa's most-trusted operatives" who is headstrong and "can fly anything".[20] Isaac described Poe as "the best freaking pilot in the galaxy... He's been sent on a mission by a certain princess, and he ends up coming up across [Finn], and their fates are forever intertwined."[19]

Natalie Zutter and Chris Lough of Tor.com wrote, "Poe is that rare creature who knows exactly what he wants to do with his life."[21] Isaac said of the character in 2015, "Poe's the kind of guy you want in the trenches with you. He’s straightforward, he’s honest, he's incredibly loyal and he’s got some swagger to him."[22] Katy Waldman wrote for Slate, "This is Poe Dameron, star pilot, heartthrob, wiseass, ace leather jacket–bestower, Finn’s OTP. When he grins up at [Kylo Ren], all rakish charm and derring-do, we know the movie will be OK."[23] Comic book writer Charles Soule, creator of the 2015 Marvel Comics series Star Wars: Poe Dameron, said of the character, "I think it's his charisma that really defines him, for me. Poe Dameron is one charming fellow. We've seen great pilots before, and great warriors, but his ability to lead and inspire feels pretty fresh to me, as is his somewhat snappy roguishness."[24]

After filming The Last Jedi but before its release, Isaac said in 2017:

Poe is in some ways a surrogate son for Leia. But also I think she sees in him the potential for a truly great leader of the Resistance and beyond ... Poe's arc is one of evolving from a heroic soldier to a seasoned leader, to see beyond the single-mindedness of winning the battle to the larger picture of the future of the galaxy. [Leia], with tough love, wants to push Poe to be more than the badass pilot, to temper his heroic impulses with wisdom and clarity.[25]

Poe Dameron is the decorated star pilot of General Leia Organa's Resistance fleet,[20] and the robot BB-8 is his astromech droid.[26] He is sent by Leia on a mission to the planet Jakku to retrieve part of a map that will lead to the location of her brother, Luke Skywalker. Before Poe can leave with the map, the First Order attacks and he is captured. The pilot has entrusted the map to BB-8, who flees into the desert as Kylo Ren tortures Poe in search of the map.[22] Poe is saved by the renegade stormtrooperFinn, and they escape in a TIE fighter. They crash on Jakku; Finn is ejected from the ship and Poe is presumed dead as the destroyed craft is sucked under the sand. Poe later reappears, having also been thrown from the crash, now leading a squadron of X-wing pilots in an assault on the First Order at Maz Kanata's castle. He later leads his squadron to attack the First Order's Starkiller Base, and personally fires the shots that cause the superweapon to explode.

Isaac told GQ in December 2015 that when he was offered the role, Abrams told him that Poe would die in the film. When Isaac later accepted, Abrams said he had changed his mind: "I’ve figured it out. You’re in the whole movie now."[27] Comedic lines, like those during Poe's interrogation by Kylo Ren, were added in reshoots, and some were improvised by Isaac.[28]

The 2015 novelization of The Force Awakens by Alan Dean Foster explains that Poe regains consciousness and is able to crash land the TIE fighter in the desert.[29] Thrown from the wreckage, he comes upon the Blarina scavenger Naka Iit.[29] Poe helps Naka outrun a team of pirates, and in turn Naka helps Poe get to Blowback Town.[29]

Poe is a playable character in the 2015 Force Awakens add-on to the Disney Infinity 3.0 video game, with an Infinity character figurine available separately.[39][40][41][42]Hasbro has released a 3.75 inch Poe Dameron action figure,[43][44] and a 6 inch figure in their Black Series line.[45]Funko has produced three Poe Dameron figures as part of their POP! Television line of 4.5 inch vinyl figures in the Japanese super deformed style. The first features the character in his flight suit, helmet, and goggles;[46][47] the second is a Hot Topic-exclusive version in Poe's leather jacket look from the beginning of the film;[48][49] and a third is an f.y.e.-exclusive version in an orange First Order "prisoner suit" and facial cut.[48][49] Poe and BB-8 are featured in a Lego Star Wars playset called Poe's X-wing Fighter,[50][51] and Poe is available as a Lego Buildable Figure.[52] The Lego versions of Poe and BB-8 also appear in the 2016 short form animated series Lego Star Wars: The Resistance Rises,[53][54][55][56] voiced by Lex Lang,[57][58] and the short Poe Dameron vs the First Order Snowspeeder.[59] Hasbro released a wearable replica of Poe's helmet as part of its Star Wars: The Black Series line in 2017.[60]

Shortly after the destruction of Starkiller Base, the Resistance evacuates their base on D'Qar as the First Order closes in. Poe leads a counterattack on the First Order to give the last Resistance fighters more time board the transports. When they do so, Leia orders Poe to pull back, but he insists that they seize the opportunity to destroy one of the First Order's Dreadnoughts, and calls in a team of bombers. While they are successful in taking out the ship, all of the bombers are destroyed and their crews killed, and Leia demotes Poe to captain for his recklessness and unwillingness to follow orders. The First Order soon attacks again, having tracked the Resistance through lightspeed, a feat previously believed to have been impossible. The attack claims the lives of nearly all of the Resistance's leadership and renders Leia unconscious. While Poe assumes that he will become the acting general, Leia is instead replaced by Vice Admiral Holdo, who dismisses his suggestions due to his earlier reckless actions. Poe concocts a plan with Finn and mechanic Rose Tico to disable the First Order's tracker from within their lead Star Destroyer, but keeps the operation a secret from Holdo. Discovering that Holdo's plan is to have the Resistance forces abandon their vulnerable cruiser, Poe stages a mutiny. Finn, Rose, and BB-8 fail to disable the tracker, and an awakened Leia stops Poe's mutiny and resumes command though both Leia and Holdo express respect for Poe's daring. Leia later reveals to Poe that Holdo's plan was always to use the cruiser to draw the First Order off while the transports escaped undetected. The transports take the Resistance forces to an abandoned base on the planet Crait, where they transmit a distress signal to their allies. Poe leads an offensive against the invading First Order, but is unable to stop their assault. As Luke Skywalker faces off against Kylo Ren, Poe leads the remaining members of the Resistance to escape through an uncharted passage. He is among those who flee with Rey on the Millennium Falcon.

In an early version of the script, Poe accompanies Finn to Canto Bight, but writer/director Rian Johnson found the storyline flat when he realized their dialogue was interchangeable. This led to the creation of the character Rose Tico, who would challenge and contrast with Finn.[61]

The character and Isaac's performance have received positive reviews. Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune wrote, "Oscar Isaac is a primary asset as Poe Dameron ... Like Ford's Han Solo in the original three, he's the guy you want on your team, the one who doesn't take any guff".[63]Robbie Collin of The Telegraph called Poe "a dashing, dry-humoured swashbuckler—in short, he’s like Han Solo was 40 years ago".[64] Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter described the "hotshot" pilot as "a man very much in the Solo mold",[65] and Manohla Dargis of The New York Times wrote that Poe "suggests a next-generation Han".[66]Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times noted that "Isaac has more than a bit of Han Solo swagger",[67] and Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post said that "Isaac brings just the right amount of cocksure street smarts to his role".[68] Brian Hiatt of Rolling Stone wrote that Poe's "loose, jazzy dialogue was the first, highly welcome clue that these new films would be more human in tone than George Lucas' prequels."[28]The Telegraph also listed Poe's scenes as one of their "14 things Star Wars fans will love about The Force Awakens", writing that they "spark and fizz with energy" and that "while Han Solo will always hold the number one spot, Oscar Isaac’s Poe Dameron is definitely a serious contender for the title of Second Coolest Man in the Galaxy".[69] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote that "Isaac oozes flyboy charm".[15] Alex Brown of Tor.com called Poe "the greatest addition to Star Wars canon since Mara Jade", a popular character from the Star Wars expanded universe.[37]

Both Joanna Robinson of Vanity Fair and Scott Mendelson of Forbes noted the chemistry between Poe and Finn (John Boyega),[70][71] with Brian Truitt of USA Today calling the relationship a "bromance".[36][72] Their scenes in the film, and Isaac's own comments during an interview with Ellen DeGeneres, have sparked fan and journalistic speculation that Poe could be gay, or be developed as such in future films.[70][71][72][73][74][75][76] Several media outlets reported the wave of fan fiction and fan art created by fan "shippers", or those with a desire to see Poe and Finn in a romantic relationship.[70][72][74][75][76] Commenting on Isaac's camaraderie with his The Force Awakens cast members, Joanna Robinson of Vanity Fair wrote that "the most important bond Isaac established was with John Boyega. Theirs is a flirtation that launched a thousand pieces of fan fiction."[70]